Authors are asking for and receiving advice from other authors about how to get reader reviews on Amazon.

Much of the advice is excellent. Some of the most helpful information comes from the “Here’s how I did it” stories that many are willing to share.

There’s a downside to this authors-talking-to-authors back-and-forth, though. Some of the advice is wrong.

That’s understandable, because it seems like the “facts” do change regularly. Still, repeating information without verifying it first sometimes adds to the confusion. (“I heard in another group . . .” isn’t enough.)

The “rules” are easy to verify. What’s harder to confirm is what could be considered the unwritten rules surrounding Amazon reader reviews.

The mystery of the disappearing review

For example, there’s a lot of discussion around reader reviews being removed or blocked.

People speculate that it happens when Amazon identifies social media connections between a reviewer and the book’s author. I haven’t seen this verified, but I did find this statement in the Community Guidelines: “If we find unusual reviewing behavior, we might limit the ability to submit reviews. If we reject or remove someone’s review because it violates our promotional content guidelines, we won’t accept any more reviews from them for the same product.”

It makes sense, though. Amazon’s rules surrounding reviews for books and other products are designed to ensure honesty and integrity. Shoppers need to be able to trust reader/user reviews because they help them make purchasing decisions.

If reviews are biased, they’re useless.

Reader review myths and facts

Other specifics can be confirmed or refuted, though. Here are three Amazon reader review myths and what you need to know about them.

Reader Review Myth 1: You can’t give a reader a complimentary copy of your book in exchange for an honest reader review.

In October 2016, Amazon announced it would no longer allow product sellers to give free products in exchange for reviews. Books are exempt from that rule.

The last paragraph of the Amazon announcement with this information reads:

“The above changes will apply to product categories other than books. We will continue to allow the age-old practice of providing advance review copies of books.”

Reader Review Myth 2: Anyone can review a book on Amazon.

According to the retailer’s Community Guidelines, “To do any of the following, you need to have spent at least $50 on Amazon.com, using a valid credit or debit card, in the past 12 months”. The list of actions following that statement includes, “Create reviews (including star ratings).”

Reader Review Myth 3: You can’t review a book unless you bought it on Amazon. (Another variation: You must have an “Amazon verified purchase” to write a review.)

That is so not true, yet so many insist that it is.

I asked Amazon about this while writing “The Amazon reviews brouhaha and you.”

Here’s what an Amazon representative told me:  “Anyone registered as an Amazon.com customer is entitled to write a product review. It doesn’t matter whether they bought the product from our website or not. Also, we encourage reviews on Amazon.com website, both positive and negative, verified or non verified as long as they adhere to our posted guidelines. Customer Reviews are meant to give customers unbiased product feedback from fellow shoppers, any reviews that could be viewed as advertising, promotional, or misleading will not be posted.”

Verified purchase reviews are placed above unverified reviews. That’s it. If a verified purchase reviewer gives you just one star, you’re stuck with that disappointing review at or near the top.

Reviews from readers without verified purchases — meaning, they didn’t buy the book on Amazon — appear below verified purchase reviews.

For that reason, don’t worry about how or where a reader got your book. It’s better to be grateful they took the time to review it.

Get reader reviews by following the rules

The first thing to do is read Amazon’s review guidelines so you know the rules:

• Customer Reviews
• Customer product reviews policies
• Community Guidelines
• Answers to Questions about Product Reviews
• Anti-Manipulation Policy for Customer Reviews

When you follow the rules, you’ll have fewer unpleasant surprises.

How to get reader reviews

Once you’re clear on what is and isn’t a myth and understand the rules, you can start seeking reviews.

Many happen organically — meaning, someone reads your book and writes a review on Amazon, Goodreads, BN.com, and other book retail sites. You don’t play a role in the process.

But you also need to help things along by giving away books to your target audience. You provide the book in exchange for an honest review. (Note that important word, honest.)

There are a number of other ways to find appropriate reviewers, too. You can use your email list, review blogs, review clubs, a street team, online groups, or a review service. Here are a few articles on this site that will help you with these options:

• How to get reader reviews
• 9 places to look for readers who write reviews
• Why readers aren’t reviewing your books
• 9 ways to use reader reviews in book marketing

Remember to make it easy for readers to review your book, too.

Authors describe the Build Book Buzz Reader Book Review Forms — one for fiction, one for nonfiction — as “the missing link” in the review process. Each fill-in-the-blanks form removes the mystery surrounding how to write a reader review by simplifying the process for readers. As a result, they can write something meaningful in just minutes.

Don’t lose your reviews!

Reviews are important enough that you want to make sure you don’t lose them once you get them.

The smart approach is to go straight to Amazon for the facts whenever you have a question about the retailer’s review policies.

Can you de-bunk other reader review myths? Please tell us about them in a comment.

(Editor’s note: We have updated the links and other details in this October 2020 article.)

That label means that Amazon has “verified that the person writing the review purchased the product at Amazon and didn’t receive the product at a deep discount.”

Some authors believe that if you didn’t purchase the book on Amazon so that it’s “verified,” you can’t review it.

Others think that reviews that aren’t verified have no value and aren’t worth securing.

Amazon Verified Purchase reviews myth busting

They believe this even though Amazon states, “Reviews that are not marked ‘Amazon Verified Purchase’ are valuable as well, but we either can’t confirm that the product was purchased at Amazon or the customer did not pay a price available to most Amazon shoppers.”

Here are the facts about verified and unverified reader reviews on Amazon.

1. You don’t have buy the book on Amazon to review it.

Amazon states on the site that readers “can review any product on Amazon, regardless of where they purchased that product” as long as they “have spent at least $50 on Amazon.com using a valid credit or debit card in the past 12 months.”

This means you can review a book you’ve borrowed, bought elsewhere, or received as a gift as long as you meet the spending requirement.

That’s important to understand because some authors insist that if reviews aren’t verified, Amazon won’t post them. That simply isn’t true.

2. Verified Purchase reviews carry more weight than those that aren’t verified.

To verify this anecdotally, I looked at the reviews of several books, including my own. In every case, the first reviews presented have the Amazon Verified Purchase label.

“Anecdotally” isn’t enough, though, so I contacted Amazon.

Here’s what a representative told me via email:

“We continue to evolve the ranking order in which reviews are displayed, seeking to show the most useful & trustworthy reviews to help shoppers make decisions. We use machine learned models and factors such as age of a review, whether it was a verified purchase, customer feedback on helpfulness, and other factors to constantly improve our ability to help shoppers make the best decisions, even if that decision is not to buy.”

How can you use this information?

There are three things you can do with this information immediately.

1. Stop obsessing about how a reader acquired your book.

Continue to solicit reviews because all reviews, not just Amazon Verified Purchase reviews, are important. (And if you don’t have the Build Book Buzz Reader Book Review Form that simplifies and facilitates this process for readers , get it here.)

2. Encourage people to click “helpful” on any reviews that help them make a purchase decision. 

Amazon relies on its customers to tell it what information is helpful, so support that process with action.

I’m not talking about manipulating reviews on your books — far from it. This is about helping Amazon assess which reviews are and aren’t useful to readers and other product purchasers.

In addition to encouraging readers to take this extra step, set an example by doing this with customer feedback on all types of products you’re considering. Don’t limit review feedback to books.

3. Study Amazon’s rules for reader reviews.

This should be standard operating procedure for authors, but isn’t. And what you don’t know can get you and your books kicked off this important sales platform.

Here are links to nearly everything you need to know about reader reviews on Amazon:

• Customer product reviews policies
• Answers to Questions about Product Reviews
• Community Guidelines

Bookmark or save these links so that you can return to them each time you plan a review campaign. Rules can change, and Amazon will update these pages as needed.

What’s your best tip for securing honest reader reviews? Please tell us in a comment.

Much of the advice is excellent. Some of the most helpful information comes from the “Here’s how I did it” stories that many are willing to share.

There’s a downside to this authors-talking-to-authors back-and-forth, though. Some of the advice is wrong.

That’s understandable, because it seems like the “facts” do change regularly. Still, repeating information without verifying it first sometimes adds to the confusion. (“I heard in another group . . .” isn’t enough.)

The “rules” are easy to verify. What’s harder to confirm is what could be considered the unwritten rules surrounding Amazon reader reviews.

The mystery of the disappearing review

For example, there’s a lot of discussion around reader reviews being removed or blocked.

People speculate that it happens when Amazon identifies social media connections between a reviewer and the book’s author. I haven’t seen this verified, although there is this statement in the Community Guidelines: “If we find unusual reviewing behavior, we might limit the ability to submit reviews. If we reject or remove someone’s review because it violates our promotional content guidelines, we won’t accept any more reviews from them for the same product.”

It makes sense, though. Amazon’s rules surrounding reviews for books and other products are all centered on honesty and integrity. Shoppers need to be able to trust reader/user reviews because they help them make purchasing decisions. If reviews are biased, they’re useless.

Reader review myths and facts

Other specifics can be confirmed or refuted, though. Here are three Amazon reader review myths and what you need to know about them.

Myth 1: You can’t give a reader a complimentary copy of your book in exchange for an honest reader review.

In October 2016, Amazon announced it would no longer allow product sellers to give free products in exchange for reviews. Books are exempt from that rule.

The last paragraph of the Amazon announcement with this information reads:

“The above changes will apply to product categories other than books. We will continue to allow the age-old practice of providing advance review copies of books.”

Myth 2: Anyone can review a book on Amazon.

According to the retailer’s Community Guidelines, “To contribute to Customer features (for example, Customer Reviews, Customer Answers, Idea Lists) or to follow other contributors, you must have spent at least $50 on Amazon.com using a valid credit or debit card in the past 12 months.”

That’s not $50 the day you want to write a review. It’s $50 in the past 12 months. (By the way, it used to be $50 over the lifetime of your Amazon account.)

Myth 3: You can’t review a book unless you bought it on Amazon. (Another variation: You must have an “Amazon verified purchase” to write a review.)

That is so not true, yet so many insist that it is.

I asked Amazon about this while writing “The Amazon reviews brouhaha and you.”

Here’s what an Amazon representative told me:  “Anyone registered as an Amazon.com customer is entitled to write a product review. It doesn’t matter whether they bought the product from our website or not. Also, we encourage reviews on Amazon.com website, both positive and negative, verified or non verified as long as they adhere to our posted guidelines. Customer Reviews are meant to give customers unbiased product feedback from fellow shoppers, any reviews that could be viewed as advertising, promotional, or misleading will not be posted.”

As for verified purchase reviews, they are placed above unverified reviews. That’s it. If a verified purchase reviewer gives you just one star, you’re stuck with that disappointing review at or near the top.

Reviews from readers without verified purchases — meaning, they didn’t buy the book on Amazon — appear below verified purchase reviews.

For that reason, don’t worry about how or where a reader got your book. It’s better to be grateful they took the time to review it.

Get reader reviews by following the rules

The first thing to do is read Amazon’s review guidelines so you know the rules:

• Customer Reviews Guidelines Frequently Asked Questions from Authors
• Customer product reviews policies
• Community Guidelines (scroll down to “Additional Guidelines for Customer Reviews”)
• Answers to Questions about Product Reviews
• Anti-Manipulation Policy for Customer Reviews

When you follow the rules, you’ll have fewer unpleasant surprises.

How to get reader reviews

Once you’re clear on what is and isn’t a myth and understand the rules, you can start seeking reviews.

Many happen organically — meaning, someone reads your book and writes a review on Amazon, Goodreads, BN.com, and other book retail sites. You don’t play a role in the process.

But you also need to help things along by giving away books to your target audience. You provide the book in exchange for an honest review. (Note that important word, honest.)

There are a number of other ways to find appropriate reviewers, too. You can use your email list, review blogs, review clubs, a street team, online groups, or a review service. Here are a few articles on this site that will help you with these options:

• 9 places to look for readers who write reviews
• Why readers aren’t reviewing your books
• Get reader reviews fast
• 9 ways to use reader reviews in book marketing

Remember to make it easy for readers to review your book, too. Authors describe the Build Book Buzz Reader Book Review Forms — one for fiction, one for nonfiction — as “the missing link” in the review process. Each fill-in-the-blanks form removes the mystery surrounding how to write a reader review by simplifying the process for readers. As a result, they can write something meaningful in just minutes.

Don’t lose your reviews!

Reviews are important enough that you want to make sure you don’t lose them once you get them.

The smart approach is to go straight to Amazon for the facts whenever you have a question about the retailer’s review policies.

Can you de-bunk other reader review myths? Please tell us about them in a comment.

(Editor’s note: This article was first published in March 2017. It has been updated and expanded.)

When you vote on Amazon reviews, you’re “up-voting.”

I was reminded of this recently when a discussion group member and prolific Amazon reviewer wondered why more people don’t do it.

She wondered if authors think it isn’t allowed by the great and powerful ‘zon.

Why authors don’t vote yes or no

Most authors responded one of four ways:

1. They never noticed that question at the end of a review
2. They do it all the time
3. They didn’t think they were allowed to up- or down-vote one of their own reviews with a “yes” or “no” response
4. They didn’t know if they could or couldn’t vote on reviews on their own books, but they’re so terrified of getting kicked off the retail site that they stay as far away from reader reviews of their books as possible

There was a significant amount of back-and-forth in the discussion about whether Amazon allows authors to vote “yes” or “no” on reviews of their own books.

Those who said it is allowed used as proof the fact that they do it, and their books are still sold there.

Those who said it isn’t allowed linked to Amazon’s terms of service, which don’t directly address this specific question, but do say that manipulating reviews is banned. That is close enough to “no” for many.

The definitive answer

But still . . . in spite of what they said, nobody in the discussion really knew for sure if they could vote on Amazon reviews of their books.

So I asked Amazon if authors could vote “yes” and “no” on reviews of their own books.

The answer is “yes.”

Here’s the message I got from Amazon:

“You may vote on any review.”

There you have it.

Why you should vote on Amazon reviews

So vote, because you can. Vote early, vote often.

There are three reasons why you want to vote on reviews of your own books as well as those that helped you make a decision about whether to read someone else’s book.

1. Reviewers want you to.

As already noted, “yes” votes help prolific reviewers move up in rank on Amazon’s list of top reviewers.

There’s no tangible benefit for the reviewer — they do all of this voluntarily, after all — but a higher ranking is validation that their reviews are valued by site customers. Who doesn’t want to feel valued?

(For more on this, read the post on this site, “Book review: How to Get Good Reviews on Amazon.”)

2. It shows that readers are paying attention to your book.

Visitor engagement with reviews suggests activity and momentum. It shows that there’s traffic on the page.

Does that mean that a page with no review votes is bad for your book? No. It’s more that any activity is better than no activity. But the fact that there’s no interaction with reviews isn’t going to crush your book.

3. It might help readers make a decision.

You know what “groupthink” is, right? In short, it’s conformity.

It’s similar to what happens when I’m looking at a menu with too many choices. I get so overwhelmed (heaven forbid I should select something that tastes bad . . . ) that I ask my companion, “What are you getting?” That’s often what I order.

It works that way with review votes, too. If a reader review does a nice job of making a case for reading a book and several people have declared that review helpful, it gives others the courage to take a chance and buy it.

It also works the other way around. If many found the specifics in a one-star review helpful, those noticing the review and the votes might decide to move along without making a purchase.

So vote “yes” . . . or “no”

Consider adding up- and down-voting to your regular Amazon browsing routine for one simple reason: It’s a nice thing to do for reviewers.

They want you to do it because it’s good for them. And, it takes no effort to show that support.

After all, just as they need your books to review, you need their reviews for your books. Do your part in this symbiotic relationship.

Do you vote on reviews on Amazon? Why or why not?

Square’s survey of 1,800 consumers was conducted for retailers, not authors, but the findings are still relevant to authors seeking reader reviews.

According to the research, 43 percent of respondents said that customer reviews are very or extremely trustworthy. This is why Amazon wants honest reader reviews.

The research also revealed that 53 percent find customer reviews only somewhat trustworthy — which is also why Amazon wants honest reviews. Amazon knows that consumers are increasingly savvy. They know a fake review when they see one.

Fake review characteristics

Square’s research shows that 44 percent of respondents said that it’s very or extremely important that the tone of the review isn’t overly positive or negative.

I understand this — and hope you can, too.

It reminds me of how I approach audience evaluations after I’ve presented at a conference or event. I toss out the form that gushes about my presentation — that one was probably completed by a friend. I do the same for the worst one (some people are never happy). I focus on everything in between to learn and grow.

This applies to books, too. As readers scan peer reviews, they intuitively focus on what’s in between the five-star review that shouts, “Best book ever!” and the one-star, “Hated it.”

Readers know the good review is trying too hard, while the bad one was left by someone connected to a competitor or who is, quite simply, a fool. (This is why authors shouldn’t obsess over negative reviews unless they’re the norm).

Another red flag? When the reviewer refers to the author by first name. It’s not a dead giveaway, but if it’s followed by “Everyone should read this!,” there’s a chance the reviewer knows the author.

Why friends and family aren’t good reviewers

Many authors rely on their friends and family network to generate reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, and elsewhere for obvious reasons. They believe that people with a connection to them are more likely to make the effort to review their book.

While it’s understandable, it’s not wise for a few reasons:

• Amazon doesn’t allow immediate family members to write reviews. If they do, Amazon will probably delete them.
• The people you’re closest to might not read the kinds of books your write. In that case, expecting them to actually read your book, then review it, is not only unrealistic, it’s unfair.
• It puts a lot of pressure on people who like you as a person but not as an author to write something lovely about a book they might not have read or liked.
• It forces people who do like what you write to make the time to read your book and review it. It seems like a simple thing, but when you’re busy, it’s hard to make time for this sort of task.
• Some of the relatives you’re relying on to write a positive book review share your last name. That’s not only a red flag to book buyers, it’s a red flag to Amazon, which will probably remove the review. Amazon’s technology is the equivalent of a mother with eyes in the back of her head. You just can’t fool it (or her)– Amazon sees all.

As I explain in another article, it’s important to manage your expectations with friends and family.

Go after honest peer reviews

Your goal is always to generate as many honest reviews from “real readers” — the peers of those reading the reviews — as possible.

The process starts with writing a great book.

If you’re self-publishing, you’ll need to invest in a professional editor and cover designer, both with experience in your genre or category. (Traditional and hybrid publishers usually provide that service.) Authorship is, after all, a business.

With a great book in hand, there are a number of ways to generate honest peer reviews. They all have one thing in common: Giving complimentary copies of your book to the people who are most likely to love it — your target audience — with a request for an honest review.

The books you offer in exchange for reviews can be digital, rather than printed, to reduce costs. But you have to get your book into the right hands.

Make it as easy as possible for readers to review your book, too. Give them the Build Book Buzz Reader Book Review Form (there’s one for fiction, another for nonfiction), an easy-to-use, fill-in-the-blanks shortcut that readers love using. It allows them to quickly write an honest, meaningful review that tells other book lovers what they need to know about your book.

Consumers are smart

As the Square research shows, consumers are smart. They trust recommendations from friends and strangers alike, but they can also spot fake reviews.

Don’t waste your time pursuing “fake” reviews. They won’t help. Write an amazing book and get it into the hands of people who will become your champions. They are the “peers” that readers trust.

Help readers trust your reviews — and you.

What do you do to generate honest reviews? Tell us in a comment. 

“How do I find reviewers for my book?”

I get this question from authors all the time. And it’s a good one.

I often suggest that they follow this three-step process:

1. Find similar books on Amazon.
2. Track down the four- and five-star reviewers for those books.
3. Ask those reviewers to consider reviewing their book, too.

Not surprisingly, the response is usually, “Won’t that take a lot of time?”

Until now, I’d say “Yes” and suggest that they hire a student to do the digging.

Until now.

Now, I’ve got a much better solution. It’s quick, thorough,  easy, and automated (my new favorite word).

Reviewer Grabber tool demonstration

It’s the very cool “Reviewer Grabber” tool — software — created by the team at the Author Marketing Club (affiliate link). The image above is a screenshot of the software in action as it searches for self-publishing book reviewers.

I asked Author Marketing Club founder Jim Kukral to demonstrate how it works so I could videotape it and share it here with you.

Try to see past my “ooooooh, ahhhhhhh” reaction when you watch. I admit I was pretty amazed by how easy it is to use and how helpful it will be in snagging book reviews from the right reviewers.

Watch our Reviewer Grabber demonstration here. It’s long enough to answer all of your questions about the tool while still showing its power pretty soon after Jim starts the demonstration.

Use it yourself

One survey of 300,000 book readers revealed that they are more interested in Amazon reviews than any other kind of review. This tool will help you snag those influential reviews. They’re the ones that give your book credibility with readers and reassure them that they will like it.

The Reviewer Grabber and the corresponding email templates you can use to request reviews are only available to Author Marketing Club (AMC) members. Get all the details at my affiliate link.

Got questions about the Reviewer Grabber?  I’ve used it several times and should be able to help. Just ask them in a comment. 

Tip of the Month

I always share a “Tip of the Month,” a free resource or tool for authors, on the last Wednesday of the month.

This month’s comes from Louise Myers’ “Visual Social Media” blog. It’s loaded with information that will help you improve your visual communication.

The resource is a blog post and corresponding white paper on “How to Create an Infographic People Will Rave About.” The post outlines the steps to follow and it links to a site where you can download the white paper. (An infographic is an image-based presentation of information that provides a visual “at a glance” overview of a concept or process.)

Whether you plan to design your own or collaborate with a designer, you’ll get how-to information and advice that will help you make sure the end result is effective . . . and not a waste of time. Have fun with it!

Learn more and get the download link at the Visual Social Media blog.

Just 10 days ago, Amazon filed a lawsuit against more than 1,000 Fiverr vendors who Amazon says are writing fake product reviews on the retailer’s site.

The company says the bogus Amazon reviews could mislead consumers and give certain sellers an unfair advantage.

“Unfortunately, a very small minority of sellers and manufacturers sometimes tries to gain unfair competitive advantages for their products on Amazon.com. One such method is creating false, misleading, and inauthentic customer reviews,” Amazon wrote in the October 16, 2015, court filing. “While small in number, these reviews can significantly undermine the trust that consumers and the vast majority of sellers and manufacturers place in Amazon, which in turn tarnishes Amazon’s brand.”

Amazon notes that it prohibits any attempt to manipulate customer reviews and doesn’t allow compensated reviews. Even so, the company says, an “unhealthy ecosystem” has developed to supply reviews in exchange for a fee.

Amazon Complaint

Fake reviews are a problem

Fake reviews are an issue for all types of products sold on Amazon, not just books, but I have been monitoring author reaction to this development in particular. Most of it seems to fall into one of four categories:

1. Haters: “Amazon is an evil entity trying to take over the world. Unite in an uprising, authors!”
2. Specialized haters: “This is a free speech issue! Amazon can’t stop us from saying what we want!”
3. Legal beagles: “What’s the legal standing for this suit?”
4. Consumerists: “It’s about time. I don’t even read the 5-star reviews because I doubt they’re honest.”

In the end, regardless of which of those categories best describes your reaction, what’s relevant to you is the fact that Amazon doesn’t tolerate reviews that aren’t honest. If you’re begging friends and family to “write something nice” about your book on Amazon, knock it off.

Is this actually a public relations campaign?

The other piece here for authors and other product sellers is that it’s likely that Amazon has another motive for this crackdown — improving its image.

Amazon is now positioning itself as a champion of the consumer underdog as it stands up in court to protect you from the evildoers trying to trick you into buying books, baubles, or boomerangs that won’t live up to the glowing reviews.

Other businesses that rely on user reviews have noticed. In an NBC News report, a spokesperson for Yelp told a reporter, “. . . we’re really heartened by it. Any message loud and clear that the industry can send that these types of misleading activities cannot be tolerated on platforms is an important message for consumers to hear.”

The suit was filed not long after a New York Times expose describing Amazon’s workplace as “bruising” made national news.

What’s more, just days after Amazon filed its “advocate for the consumer” lawsuit against phony reviewers, it published its response to The New York Times article on Medium.com.

I doubt the timing is coincidental. Amazon wants you to know that no matter what you read about it in the press, the retailer is working hard to protect its customers.

Author takeaways

But back to the author takeaway for this action: Don’t ask friends or family for book reviews, especially if they don’t read they types of books you write. Don’t do review swaps with other authors, either. Instead, learn how to get honest reviews (see “How to get reader reviews“).  Plus, in the article “Get reader reviews fast” on this site, author Michael Sunnarborg explains his simple six-step approach.

Finally, a member of the Build Book Buzz Facebook group commented recently that anything but a verified purchase review is useless on Amazon because Amazon gives verified purchase reviews the most weight. I asked Amazon about this and here’s the response I got:

“Anyone registered as an Amazon.com customer is entitled to write a product review. It doesn’t matter whether they bought the product from our website or not. Also, we encourage reviews on Amazon.com website, both positive and negative, verified or non verified as long as they adhere to our posted guidelines. Customer Reviews are meant to give customers unbiased product feedback from fellow shoppers, any reviews that could be viewed as advertising, promotional, or misleading will not be posted.”

There you have it.

How do you feel about Amazon’s campaign to “out” the phony reviews, reviewers, and review buyers? Tell us in a comment!

Tip of the Month

On the fourth Wednesday of the month, I’ll always share a “Tip of the Month,” a free resource or tool for authors.

File this one in the Cool Tools Department: The Kindle Sales Rank Calculator lets you take the current Amazon rank of any book and calculate how many books it is currently selling.

To get a book’s rank to enter into the calculator, go to the book’s Amazon sales page and scroll down to the “Product Details.” The number to enter into the calculator is the “Amazon Best Sellers Rank” — the first number, not the category sales ranks.

Key point: If there’s a comma (or two) in the sales rank number, remove it. The calculator won’t work if there’s a comma.

Comparing your estimated daily sales to those of books you compete with could help you formulate sales goals. Even if you don’t do that, though, it’s worth knowing what your rank actually means in terms of sales.

It’s a book about how to get reviews from those experienced reviewers, not a book about how to get reviews from anyone who can post them on Amazon. His advice is limited to working with those who consistently review books in your genre or category on the site.

As he notes in the introduction when referring to those who are regular reviewers, “The really interesting traffic often goes on outside the public forums, once people get to know each other and start using more private channels of communication.” (This observation, by the way, sent me to Facebook to see if there are groups for Amazon reviewers. There are, which underscores this sense of subculture I got from Rogers’ book.)

Avoid the pitfalls of the review system

Rogers wrote the book to help authors avoid the mistakes he sees being made either by well-intended but misguided authors, or by those trying to beat the system. He says that “It’s about both how to get the good reviews and how to avoid the pitfalls.”

It’s a quick read — underscored by the author’s constant reference to it as a “booklet,” rather than as a book — packed with useful insights and advice.

A few of the key messages I pulled from it include:

• Regular reviewers take their work seriously — so seriously, in fact, that they frequently check their rank in Amazon’s list of top reviewers. Their ranking is influenced by the number of times that site users select “yes” when asked “Was this review helpful to you?” at the end of a review. More “yes” answers helps them move higher up on the list, a coveted status.
• Most regular and prolific reviewers review books and products in their free time because they want to help people make informed buying decisions. If your book gets a less than four- or five-star review, it’s because it didn’t deliver on its promise.
• The experienced reviewers know when your five-star reviews were written by friends and family and aren’t exactly “honest.” If you load your page with these less-than-honest reviews, you’re not likely to get a review from a prolific reviewer. They don’t want to be associated with authors who seem to be trying to fool people into thinking that their book is anything but what it truly is. (And yes, they apparently do a little checking to confirm their suspicions — another indication that they take this whole reviewing thing seriously.)

After explaining the culture and motivation of reviewers, Rogers explains how to find and contact them.

His advice includes a four-part formula for writing emails that get your work reviewed.

Will it help you?

If you’re not interested in learning more about and connecting with those in the Amazon reviewer subculture, How to Get Good Reviews on Amazon: A Guide for Independent Authors & Sellers isn’t for you.

But think twice before turning your back on these amateurs who function like pros. If you’re writing a fiction series or a collection of nonfiction books on the same topic, it could be well worth your while to establish relationships with regular reviewers who read and review the types of books you write. If you write good books that a regular reviewer likes, you’ll likely have a friend in your review corner every time you release a book.

If you’d like to learn more about how to generate reader and literary reviews in general, whether they’re shared on Amazon, Goodreads, or other popular sites for readers, see what’s included in my 60-minute audio training program, “How to Get Honest Reviews in 3 Easy Steps” at this link.

What’s your best tip for getting reader reviews?